CHAPTER I STELLA MARIS CHURCH Today some people worry about the scarcity of priests to serve our Island parishes. For a number of years, we were lucky if we had even one priest to serve the whole Island. There were no priests available for the years 1758-1772 and 1785-1790.

Rustico had a small church dedicated to St. Augustine as far back as the 1790’s. Even when a priest resided in their midst, the time spent with his flock was very limited due to his commitments in other parts of the Island. Rustico was a favorite spot of Bishop Bernard MacDonald, successor of Bishop A.B. MacEachern. It was in 1838 during his time at Rustico that the present church at South Rustico was built. During the time of Bishop Bernard the number of priests increased, the workload gradually became lighter so that in 1859, Father Belcourt was given the care of only Rustico and Hope River which until 1843 had been part of the parish of Rustico.

For over a hundred years, the residents of what is now Stella Maris Parish were obliged to attend Sunday Mass in South Rustico, a distance of 4 V2 miles. Various means of transportation were used. The majority, being fishermen, were limited to sailing across the bay in fine weather when the ice was gone. The farmers, few in number, were able to go by horse and sleigh across the ice in winter and by horse and wagon at other times; needless to say, these were always filled to capacity. With the coming of the automobiles, some paid for a drive by truck. The majority used the age-old method of “hoofing it?’ In the summer, the children even made the return trip in the afternoon to attend religious instruc- tion and Benediction. The winter months proved to be a great hardship for the women and children.

Chapel Un er Cons ruction. '

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